HELP! We've been gazundered!!

[Jahooli]

Have just had email from the estate agent, saying that they've just sold comparable properties in the area for £160K and £150K respectively. Talk about piling on the pressure! They obviously want the sale to go through, cos they'll lose their £2500 fee otherwise, but I just smell a rat. Damn, this is tricky. At least have got the weekend to think about it...

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So by staying where you are (if you can bear it) you'll be living in your own home (albeit a bit on the small size) and not losing £8000, or at least no worse off than you were before.

Didn't you get stung by Icebank too? That's a f***ing lot to put up with I do feel sorry for you.

I know what I'd do in these times but it depends on how big your mortgage is, how desperate you are to be out and whether your property has increased it's value enough to soak up the losses.

I think they are trying it on... tell them to make a serious, less insulting offer as why should you take on all the losses that (if they are true) should be spread about fairly?

Remember too that right now you still have somewhere to live, might be best to hang on to it, somehow things will turn around in time.

 

[Gully]

I really think that it is time for your estate agent to justify their fee, if the media are to be believed there are precious few sales going through at the moment, they are after all supposed to be acting on your behalf.

 

[Skint Gull]

If you take another 5.5k drop I would suggest making sure you leave fresh fish fillets behind all the radiators and under the floorboards

 

[Monty]

Thanks TRHK, and everyone. It's all interesting advice. Yes, we can afford to take the £160K, providing we sit tight and stick it somewhere safe (ie. not in my doomed Icesave account :thud and wait until house prices drop further and our deposit has grown. We're not approaching negative equity, thankfully, so that's good. But after spending £20K+ doing the place up, we're barely going to break even on that front.

My gut feeling says go for the compromise and see what happens. But we will have to tread carefully.

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After all the nonsense advice your getting, you seem to have your head screwed on mate. I do hope it works out, go for the compromise of half way or even go slightly higher. Offer them 3k, say you understand their situation but if you take any less than that, you wont be able to afford a rental deposit and the move isn't feasable.

If that fails, stick to the same story as there is chance (although quite small) that the agent could also help bridge the gap if he thinks it will fall through.

 

[The Grub]

Just take it.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

If that fails, stick to the same story as there is chance (although quite small) that the agent could also help bridge the gap if he thinks it will fall through.

Good point - this is starting to happen if the agent thinks the fee is going to walk.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Right, the update. We asked for a compromise, but the estate came back saying that they are in fact £10,500 short on their deposit and that despite managing to raise £5,000, they were still £5,500 short - hence the reduced offer. Bugger me if I know whether they're pulling a fast one or they really are in a pickle.

So, we've reluctantly accepted the revised offer. We need to sell. End of. We've got to get the solicitors to agree stuff, as they can't officially drop the price.

Fingers crossed it all happens...

:thud:

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[Simster]

Twats. They are taking the piss out of the fact that you have a LOT more to lose than they do by rejecting the offer.

However, I do think the way forward is to leave all your rubbish in the attic, buy a live rat and put in under the floorboards and do a fresh turd on the living room carpet just before you leave.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I did say this was likely. To be honest I would take the £ 160000 and give them 7 days to exchange contracts. If they offered £ 165500 , 6 weeks ago prices havce fallen by around 2% in that time which is £ 3300 so its around
£ 2200 over the odds. I would counter their offer and meet half way, agree
£ 163000 on the basis of a 7 day exchange deadline.

Help! The fuckers who are buying my house have sprung an expected 'surprise' on us today, a week before exchange of contracts, saying they're having difficulty raising the deposit needed to buy our house. All this, six weeks after having their offer of £165,500 accepted.

They now want us to drop the price to £160,000. They're buy-to-let buyers and claim they've had to raise their deposit using equity on their existing properties - because of the credit crunch, their houses aren't worth as much as they'd thought, hence the £5,500 short-fall. But it doesn't half seem convenient. Surely they should've known about this weeks ago?!

They said they had a 50% deposit, but have failed to raise all that was needed - so why not just raise a slightly smaller deposit and then have a slightly larger mortgage?! It's not going to cost them much extra!!

Uncle S warned about gazundering and we had prepared ourselves, but it's still been an almighty shock.

We've already dropped the price from £200K to get the sale - so an extra £5.5K takes the total drop to 20%! We can't afford to drop it that much! What do we do?! HELP!

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[larus]

Perhaps, just perhaps, the buyers are at their limit. Bearing in mind that prices are forecaset to drop at least another 10% next year, then I think accepting the offer is the sensible thing to do.

House prices are dropping say 1.25%/month (at current rates). Thats £2k/month. Assume it takes another 3 months to get a buyer and complete. Hmmm. Bit of a no brainer really. OK, you can get the arse and tell them to stick it, but where does that leave you. Also, when you get round to buying, you'll be in a grat position as you'll have nothing to sell, in a quiet market.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Right, the update. We asked for a compromise, but the estate came back saying that they are in fact £10,500 short on their deposit and that despite managing to raise £5,000, they were still £5,500 short - hence the reduced offer. Bugger me if I know whether they're pulling a fast one or they really are in a pickle.

So, we've reluctantly accepted the revised offer. We need to sell. End of. We've got to get the solicitors to agree stuff, as they can't officially drop the price.

Fingers crossed it all happens...

:thud:

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Only just read this thread but in this market a £ 5500 is bad but prices have fallen by £ 3000 in 6 weeks as I said so in net terms its a £ 2500 hit. Insist that they exchange within 7 days as a condition of the £ 160000, that is very important. They could drag it on for another month and if prices fall by another 2% ask for a further £ 3000 - £ 4000 off. Call the estate agents and insist on a 7 day exchange deadline.

And they are without a doubt lying and taking the piss.

 

[London Calling]

Good to hear. That's the way I'm edging atm... worth a try, at least.

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close the deal asap and tellyour agents to get on with the job! Otherwise, it will happen again, basically your property is probably only worth £160 k today or even less!

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

If the property is worth £ 160000 now prices have been falling by 2% a month recently which is around £ 110 a day hence you MUST get a 7 day exchange deadline.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

"And they are without a doubt lying and taking the piss." - yes they are, just to make themselves feel better and to confuse the vendor (which they appear to have done).

This is commercial - they are looking to screw you as low as they can, so insist on a quick exchange as part of accepting a revised offer.

 

[portlock seagull]

"And they are without a doubt lying and taking the piss." - yes they are, just to make themselves feel better and to confuse the vendor (which they appear to have done).

This is commercial - they are looking to screw you as low as they can, so insist on a quick exchange as part of accepting a revised offer.

Good advice, it's about all you can do mate. It's a game of nerves and the stakes are always high in my (2 house) selling experience. But I did do what they're doing to you when making our last move because I knew they were desperate to sell - and it worked. I didn't feel bad about it because it's basically a ruthless world out there and business is business.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

"And they are without a doubt lying and taking the piss." - yes they are, just to make themselves feel better and to confuse the vendor (which they appear to have done).

This is commercial - they are looking to screw you as low as they can, so insist on a quick exchange as part of accepting a revised offer.

There's a terrible echo in here

 

[Gwylan]

Only just found this thread.

Can I say something in defence of the buyers: they could be telling the truth. I was once in their position. Eight years ago I put in an offer for a house, everything chugged along and we were near to exchanging when, out of the blue, I was made redundant. The building society withdrew their mortgage offer and would only give me a mortgage if I found 40 percent of the deposit. I had to go to the vendor and ask her to drop the price by 10k AND go to my buyer and ask him to raise his by 10k if they wanted the deal to go through.

The buyer did readily enough but the vendor really wasn't happy. But she needed the money rather urgently and couldn't afford any delay, so she, through gritted teeth, agreed. So, I got the mortgage and moved a month or so later.

But I hadn't been taking the piss, I genuinely had difficulty finding the sum and would have understood perfectly if the vendor had walked away. And there was no credit crunch then. Given the current circumstances, I find the buyers' story rather plausible.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

this is exactly the sort of thing I am planning to do.

Matey, a property is worth exactly to the penny what a buyer is willing to pay for it.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

If you are planning to make an offer in good faith now knowing you will gazunder in 2 months time that makes you a shit Tim.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

There's a terrible echo in here

Indeed - I had made the same point myself earlier in the post US.

But you will notice I was quoting you just to reinforce the point that it's time critical. Apologies for agreeing with you - so few people seem to these days that I imagine it was a bit of a shock.